Flooding and Water Project

This is my sixth trip to Haiti and every trip reinforces in my mind the resilience, graciousness and kindness of the Haitian people.

I was looking out the window of the plane as we landed on Monday to a view of flooding. Due to good planning the runway at the airport is on higher ground than the rest. Good planning because it appeared we were landing on a pond with small shoals here and there with a runway through the middle. Cap Haitian is built in a bay at the base of the mountains. When it rains, the water runs down the mountains into the city. Of course water follows the path of least resistance which in this case is the streets.

I am part of Haiti Clean Water, the water filter project. Our intentions for this trip are to introduce fellow team members to our water team and show them the process of preparing and installing water filters.

Haiti Clean Water is based at the school. So Tuesday morning several of us headed off to the school. We were driving through ankle to knee deep water in places. The school has a gate, so when we arrived someone jumped out of the car to open the gate. Water was rushing down the street under and against the gate. When the gate opened the water flowed in at a stronger rate. It was a river running through the courtyard of the school to the caretaker’s house. Instead of working with the water filters everyone ended up helping to divert the water away from the school. The task was unsuccessful and we needed to move to higher ground. A shopkeeper across the street on the second floor invited us up to her store so we were out of the water. This is a perfect example of the graciousness of the Haitian people. An unseen hole opened up under the water and we watched as people kept falling into it even though others were yelling to stay away from that area. At one point a man on a bicycle fell into it, bike and all. People helped pull him out.

The flooding here is another disaster for the Haitian people. Yet they rise above it and move on. The people we work with are Christians and have a strong faith. They know who their Lord is and trust Him in ways that are a good lesson for me. I see Him at work here all the time. There is a joy that is prevalent even in the worst of circumstances.  What an honor and blessing to be able to be a part of this.

Lynn Ross